Frustration!

          Technology – you can't live with it, you can't live without it.  It can do so much good for you, but it can give you many difficult challenges.
          There was a time, several years ago, when I felt on top of things.  I took course work at Florida State and at Millersville University.  As district math coordinator, at Penn Manor, I was able to provide numerous classroom sets of programmable calculators for our students when they first were manufactured.  I also was able to set up the first high school computer lab in Lancaster County and we introduced several computer programming courses.
          I was also fortunate to work for a school district that made computers a priority.  They kept us current with excellent in-service courses and software.  But then two decades ago I lost access to this incredible training when I retired.  I tried to keep up but with access to current equipment, software and training, but it has been very difficult.  Technology changes rapidly.

          Now one of the things I have been doing is banking online.  No problem until one day I went to pay bills and the link to pay bills on our banking website was no longer visible.  In frustration I finally called the "experts" at PNC.  They tried to answer me with computer jargon which was over my head.  Then they said I probably needed a new browser – again beyond my ability.  I thanked them for nothing and hung up.  Fortunately, after more trial and error I was able to locate the spot where the link had been.  When I clicked on that spot the "bill pay" actually opened.  I don't know why, but this technique is working for now, no thanks to PNC.

          The next frustration came when I tried to open our Chase site and the computer suddenly would not recognize my name and password.  This had never happened before and I wanted to check a credit card expenditure.  So, I went to the link to change my password.  I followed this routine, changed the password, and then logged off to see if it worked.  It didn't.  My new password wasn't recognized either.  I repeated this routine five times which required them to send me a new verification code each time. But no success, just growing frustration.

          Finally, I called the "Chase expert".  He helped me through the process with more frustration on the part of both of us.  Then, finally success.  We don't know why, but it appears he earned his salary that day.

          But I wasn't done.  The next day the very same thing happened on my Discover site.  I won't repeat the full story, but it is the very same as the Chase story.  Thanks to another persistent rep the problem was eventually solved.  I don't know why, but thankfully all websites appear to be working- at least for now.
          The week wasn't over and the next morning when I turned on my computers, I was stunned to see that aol had installed a completely new mail system and left me to figure how to use it.  The big challenge came with the church email prayer chain that I operate.  It contains about 120 email addresses and, at first, I couldn't even find them in the new system. Once before a similar change was made and I was no longer able to use my two websites.  I finally had to quit both of them, including my Awana website. That was hard.   At this point I was ready to quit and destroy all of our computers.
           My fear was that I would receive a prayer request and wouldn't know how to process it.  It only took a few seconds until a new request suddenly appeared.  About a hour later, I finally solved the new procedure and off it went, hopefully to all 120 chain participants.

           incidentally, I "accidentally" discovered that the new aol mail limits you to 100 names in a mail list.  Not convenient if you have 125.  So I finally had to create two separate lists.  More work for me but I just hope all 125 are once again receiving the requests.
           Now my next fear was that I had no idea how to add a new person to the chain.  But that only happens a few times a year, so I had time to figure that out.  At least I thought so.  Then suddenly up pops a request to add a new person.  Once again, I was ready to quit.  But this time I sent a request to the Lord for help and about three hours later that problem was solved.
          Probably I should have shared my concerns with the Lord much sooner.  After all, He is the real expert.  And I would guess that as creator of the universe, computer questions are simple for Him. Nothing is too hard for Him!
          I guess I should be glad that I have something to do with my time in retirement, even if it is frustrating!   But … such is life in this modern world.